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4 Sheets Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

J. WHITTAKER SAFE, VAULT, &c.

No. 425,280.- Patented Apr. 8, 1890.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. WHITTAKBR SAFE, VAULT, 6w.

No. 425,280. Patented A151. 8, 1890.

Lil @mm WW1 (No Model.) 4 SheetsSheet 4.

J. WHITTAKER SAFE, VAULT, &

No. 425,280. Patented Apr. 8, 1890.

{In 30 ZO L w M W 75% Mam UNITED STATES Y PATENT Fries,

JOHN VHITTAKER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

SAFE, VAU LT, 80C.

SPEGiFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,280, dated April 8, 1890.

Application filed April 1'7, 1889 To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, J OHN WHITTAKER, of St. Louis, Missouri, have made a new and useful Improvement in Safes, Vaults, and other Constructions Requiring Protection against Burglars and other Improper Interferers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of theimprovement is to provide a way of constructing or arranging safes, vaults, and other constructions, whereby greater protection against burglars and other improper interfere rs is secured than has heretofore been attain able; and the improvement consists in the novel structure, combination, and operation, hereinafter fully set forth, as well as pointed out in the claim.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a safe :having the improvement applied to the interior of the walls thereof, and also an outside reservoir; Fig. 2, a horizontal cross'sectional view of the safe on the line 2 2, Fig. 4, looking down; Fig. 3, a vertical transverse'section through the rear wall of the safe on the line 3 3, Figs. 2 and 4:, looking to the rear; Fig. 4., a vertical longitudinal sectional view on the line 4 4:, Figs. 2 and 3, looking to the left, as shown; Figs. 5 and 6, front and side elevations, respectively, of a safe having one form of the improvement applied by inclosing the sides, top, and rear of the safe in a cage of pipes. Fig. 7 represents a side elevation of a safe having the improvement and connected with a reservoir placed. outside of the apartment containing the safe by a pipe. Figs. 8, 9, 10, and 11 are cross-sections of variously-constructed walls of safes embodying the improvement in various forms.

The same letters of reference applied to the drawings denote the same parts.

A, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, represents a safe embodying the improvement; B, the top; C and D, side walls; E, the rear wall; F, the bottom, and G the door of the safe; (9 0 cl c f 9, respectively, the outer side of the parts last above named, and b 0' cl 6 f g the inner side thereof, respectively; b and f protectingpipe arranged in two courses in both the top and bottom shell of the safe; 0 C1 and g thin fiat protecting-chambers constructed, respectively, in the walls 0 D and door G of the safe; c, a single course of protecting- Serial No. 307,561. (Ho model.)

pipes placed in the rear wall E of the safe; H, fireproofing material of any of the usual kinds in the shell of the safe; I I, reservoirs for the protecting substance placed, respectively, either inside or outside or both inside and outside of the safe and connected by the pipes 1i i, respectively, with the protecting chambers and pipes in the shell of the safe; g reservoir for the protecting substance in the door of the safe and connected with the chamber g by the pipe 9 g and 6*,

cocks whereby to charge the chambers, pipe, and reservoirs of the safe with the protecting substance; 9 and b cooks for the escape of air from said receptacles as they are being charged. 4

K, Figs. 5 and 6, represents a cage of protecting-pipe inclosing the sides, top, and back of the safe A, which is otherwise unprotected. The pipe may be fastened in any suitable manner to the floor, and it may be applied also under the safe, if desired. The door may be furnished with inside chambers, as shown in Fig. 4, or an outside door formed of pipes distinct from those forming the cage may be provided. By this arrangement unprotected structures may easily be protected. Fig. 7 is a safe embedded in masonry.

Figs. 8, 9, 10, and 11 are cross-sections of some variously-constructed walls of safes embodying the herein-described improvement in various forms, in which n represents sheet metal, preferably iron or steel of, say, one-half inch thick, more or less, Z a space of, say, one or two inches, more or less, between some of the sheets of said metal, forming chambers to be charged with the protecting substance, as heretofore described, and m a space filled with customary fireproofing material, which may be arranged to be next to either the outside or the inside of the shell of the safe, according to the idea of the builder.

Figs. 2, 3, and a are intended to show various forms and arrangements of protecting-chambers that may be employed, but not to convey the idea that the variety should be applied in one structure. The protecting-chambers may be constructed of any suitable shape and size. They may be flat and thin and placed parallel to and nearly coextensive with the length and width of the door or that part of the shell in which they are placed. They may be formed by spacing apart the sheets of metal of which the shell of the safe is constructed when constructing it, or they may be formed of pipe, as shown. In the use of pipe for this purpose the parallel courses thereof should be placed as close to each other as practicable or as may be'deemed necessary for security, and as many as practicable of ur'es having only what may be termed one layer or series of chambers. A greater degree of protection may be secured by constructing two or more of the said series of chambers instead of but one series and by arran gin g the several series in layers parallel to 'each other and to the surface of the shell or 'door,whereby an outer series becomes aprotec'tion to aninner series, which presents an additional obstacle to an intruderafter the outer series had been punctured and emptied.

This last above-mentioned construction is illustrated by Fig.11, in which Z Z represent two parallel protection chambers, forming part of two series, as described. In this feature of the improvement each series of connected protecting-chambers should com municate exclusively with its respective reservoir of the protecting substance, whereby the power and effectiveness of a series of protecting-chambers is much increased. Said reservoirs may be located in the shell or door of, or in the interior of, or at anysuitable place exterior to,the safe; and in case of employing an externalreservoir, as above described, increased security may be obtained by locating said reservoir at some concealed or well-protected point more or less remote from the apartment containing the safe, which arrangement is shown in Fig. 7, in which D representsa side of a safe embodying theimprovement and embedded in masonry, G being the front and E the back of the safe, and i a pipe concealed in masonry leading from the interior chambers of the safe to the reservoir 1 located in a separate apartment P above the floor p.

The herein-descrlbed reservoirs are receptacles for a'reserve supply of the protecting substance, which, in addition to that which may be in the chambers, is constantly at hand ready to spring instantly into action when the structure is attached; hence byconnecting a described reservoir to a series of chambers said chambers may be of smaller capacity than would be advisable in the event that no reservoir were used, and the chambers may then contain the protecting substance in its gaseous form only, while that contained in the reservoir is in the liquid form.

It is desirable to have the chambers and reservoirs located and arranged so that when the chambers are'punctured that portion of the protecting substance which escapes will be in its gaseous form only, and that portion which retains its liquid form will remain in the chambers or the reservoirs until the reduction in pressure 'allows it to volatilize while therein. lVith this end in view the pipes connecting the chambers with the reservoirs should be arranged so as to draw the protecting substance from the reservoirs at the'top thereof, thereby allowing the gaseous portion to pass out thereof and the liquid to remain until it vaporizes therein.

The chambers and reservoirs should be provided with means for the escape ofair therefrom while they are being charged. The charging-cocks should, when practicable, be placed on the inside of the safe or other structure to which the improvement is'applied.

The protecting-chambers should preferably be located so as to especially guard those parts which are most likely to be attacked, as' the locks and hinges.

The doors of-a safe or-analogous. structure 'may havea'reservoir attached to the inside ments andhouses. Constructions lacking-on dinary burglar-proof guards may by theapplication of this improvement be rendered burglar-proof. For instance, an ordinary room may by this means be 'made' burglarproof by applying the protecting chambers in the form of pipe tothewindows-and doors thereof and to any further extent deemed necessary. -It is of course understood that the pipe is to be charged in the manner-described.

By the application of thisimpr'ovem'e'nt a burglar-proof structure may be constructed almost entirely of pipe; but in all applications of the protecting-chambers in the form of pipe or otherwise to the outside of a structure said chambers should be so placed as tobar access to the portion of the structure which they are designed to protect, and said cham- ,bers should be adapted in form, position, and

extent to the nature, form, and size of "the structure they are designed to protect.

The reservoir I in Fig. 7 is charged through the pipe 2' which preferably-leads'nearlyto the bottom of the reservoir. The valves i '5 control the escape of the ammonia or other protecting substance from-the reservoir.

The cage K of protecting-pipes is intended to have its pipes filled with the gas or 'liquid under compression, and the pipes are arranged so close together thatadrill could not cut' into the body of a safe without cutting one or more of these communicating-tubes, thereby permitting the gas or liquid to expand or es IIO cape and overpower the person attempting to break the safe. In this construction the receptacles of the gas or liquid must be outside the safe and a door must be constructed in i 5 the surrounding cage-tubing.v

I claim- In a safe or vault having a shell or frame consisting of an outer and inner wall, and a suitable packing between said walls, of cham- IO hers, tubular or otherwise, embedded in said packing and having pipes or nozzles projecting into the interior of the safe or vault and provided with cocks Within said interior, so that the chambers can discharge therein, and reservoirs arranged to contain a suitable gas or liquid und er compression and having tubular connection with the said embedded chamhers, substantially as specified.

Vitness my hand this 15th day of March,

JOHN WHITTAKER. Witnesses:

C. D. MOODY, D. W. A. SANFORD. 

